With Lu Yunfeng overseeing things at home, and the fruit in the orchard officially entering its production period, Lu Yunxing took charge of the orchard. Every day at noon, a boatload of fruit was transported to the store, with him and Wang Dahe taking turns.
The next morning, Qin Xiaozhou led a large group of people to open a shop in the county town. They rushed there so fast that Li Ji almost had to wait.
There were only women in the shop, and it took two people to carry each bucket of milk yogurt. Li Ji helped carry it in and took the opportunity to ask Zhao Fang about Li Yang.
Zhao Fang was indecisive. "We should ask my sister-in-law. I can't make the decision myself."
Li Ji couldn't find Lu Yunfeng, and he couldn't get any information from Zhao Fang either. Lu Yu was also avoiding people right now, since he was an outsider and couldn't directly ask the girl about her marriage. So he could only go to Qin Xiaozhou to ask.
His brother-in-law has been absent-minded these past few days. If the marriage isn't settled soon, he might fall ill with lovesickness. Besides, he's reached a certain age. If the marriage isn't settled, the official marriage documents will be issued, and Li Yang's marriage will no longer be up to them. Who knows what kind of woman will be assigned to his brother-in-law? In any case, it won't be a good one.
Qin Xiaozhou was busy planning to buy more people. There would be more and more stores in the future, and she couldn't possibly watch over every store all the time. When Li Ji suddenly asked about this, she naturally couldn't reveal her suspicions about Li Yang. She only said that her family was busy at the moment and hadn't discussed this matter yet.
Li Ji knew that the Lu family was busy. "The marriage does need to be discussed properly. We'll wait for news from them."
After seeing Li Ji off, the shop started to get busy. There were many people today, and quite a few women came specifically to drink the teas that were supposed to help regulate their bodies. Qin Xiaozhou hadn't expected anyone to come to drink these warming teas in the middle of summer. She had to brew the teas in her private kitchen, but she didn't have enough manpower, so she personally tended the fire in the backyard.
Lu Yan ran in, "Sister-in-law, a little kid says he's looking for you."
Qin Xiaozhou told her to watch over them for a while, "Don't touch these jars, they're hot."
Qin Niu Niu was holding a large bundle in her arms, inside which was her newborn sister, only eight days old. She was so soft and squishy in her arms, as if she had no bones. It had not been easy for her to travel from the town to the county and find Yifanfengshun Store. But now, looking at the store, she dared not go in. It was the middle of summer, but she was too hungry and dizzy. She couldn't tell whether it was from the cold or the heat.
When Qin Xiaozhou came out, Du Niu Niu timidly stepped forward and took the large package, saying, "Sister, sister, this is my little sister."
Qin Niu Niu is the daughter of Du Juan and her ex-husband. She is ten years old this year. Two years ago, Du Juan brought her into the Qin family and changed her surname to Qin.
Qin Xiaozhou was speechless. She led the person to the backyard first, saying, "Why did you come here? And with her."
She is naturally Du Juan's youngest daughter.
Suddenly, the sound of a baby crying came from the quiet bundle. The crying was weak and whimpering. Qin Xiaozhou had a headache when she heard it. Xiao Si had cried like that before. It was so hard to raise her back. Why was Qin Niu Niu bringing such a weak little baby again?
"Let's go inside."
Qin Niu Niu followed awkwardly, "Sister, she's hungry."
Qin Xiaozhou was full of questions, but nothing seemed more important than the crying. Where could she find someone to breastfeed immediately? "Let's feed her some rice water and milk first."
The milk was brought over, and Qin Niu Niu held the child in one arm and used a spoon in the other to feed him little by little, but he couldn't get the milk in at all and even choked. The child coughed and started crying.
Qin Xiaozhou had never taken care of a child before, and Qin Niuniu herself was still a child. She might be able to take care of a one- or two-year-old child, but she was completely helpless with a newborn baby who was only a few days old. So she had to ask Zhao Fang for help.
After the child had eaten and drunk his fill, he finally fell asleep. Zhao Fang took off all the cloth covering the child. The weather was hot and humid, and the child had developed red rashes all over his body. He was soaked in sweat, and the cloth he was wrapped in was not clean. Zhao Fang felt sorry for him, so she fetched water to wash the child clean and put Xiao Si's bellyband on him. Only then did the child sleep soundly.
Qin Xiaozhou sighed, "Tell me, what happened?"
Before Qin Niu Niu could speak, tears began to fall. "Dad found a new woman. He said that woman has a big butt and can give birth to sons. Mom was very angry. They fought, and Dad broke Mom's head. Mom then asked him for some money and ran away. Dad brought that woman in, and that woman kicked my sister and me out. I... I had nowhere to go, so I could only come to you."
How could so many things have happened in the Qin family in just a few days?
"I'll have someone take you home."
The child belongs to Qin Fu, and he has a responsibility to raise her. After thinking it over, Qin Xiaozhou still felt that she should be sent back. "When you go back, tell Qin Fu that if he doesn't raise your sister, he can forget about getting a penny from me in the future."
Qin Niu Niu lowered her head and didn't say anything, but her stomach growled first.
There are three or four oxcarts a day from the county town to Zhenshan. Qin Xiaozhou put the person on the oxcart, gave the driver ten coins, and asked him to take the person to the Qin family and help look after them on the way.
After eating and drinking milk tea, Qin Niuniu felt a little better. Holding the baby, she sat in the oxcart and finally only said, "Thank you, sister."
On her way back from where she had taken the bus, Qin Xiaozhou stopped by to check on the decoration of the clothing store. The store was found with the help of Sun Yuanyuan. It was in a good location and brand new, and only needed some simple modifications. Everything was already done and they were just waiting for the store to open.
Of course, Sun Yuanyuan didn't help for nothing. Qin Xiaozhou promised her twenty taels of silver a month as a thank you. A county magistrate only gets three taels of silver a month, but she offered twenty taels right off the bat. This made Sun Yuanyuan very close to Qin Xiaozhou. Once they established this relationship, Sun Yuanyuan wouldn't allow anyone to cause trouble for her clothing store in the future.
That noon, Lu Yunxing came to deliver fruit, arriving in two boats. One was the Lu family's own boat carrying the fruit, and the other was the village's ferry. Li Zhen was also on one of the boats, along with several baskets filled with finished clothes.
Li Zhen spread out the clothes in the main room and showed them to Qin Xiaozhou one by one. She was a little nervous. She had never managed anyone before, and she was worried that she would not do a good job since she was suddenly asked to manage others. She had come to the county town to report back, and she was so anxious that she could not sleep last night. She had spent the whole night altering clothes.
"If there's anything wrong with it, I'll fix it immediately. It definitely won't affect your opening of the shop the day after tomorrow."
Qin Xiaozhou examined them carefully. The embroidery stitches were delicate and smooth, and two pieces of embroidery were particularly lifelike. "These two pieces of embroidery are excellent. Who embroidered them? You can give them an extra twenty coins as a reward."
She pulled out another garment from underneath. Even someone who knew nothing about needlework could tell that the person was not good at it. The stitches on the edges were a bit rough, but the elaborate embroidery on the lapel was extremely well done. It was a waste to ruin such good embroidery.
Who did this?
Li Zhen forced a smile and said, "It's me."
Qin Xiaozhou looked surprised and shook her head, "You embroidered these flowers, but who sewed the edges?"
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